Prog Fusion

There is this older dude at work (who is a jazz fusion bass player in a pretty heavy group in the bay area), that I’ve been trading music with. The guy has a story about the spiritual/cultural relevance of every band/artist he “turns me on to”, which usually starts with “This guy’s a heavy doper, but…” or “He put the rest of his talent into his arm if you know what I mean”. Dude holds the torch to Bitches Brew Era Miles Davis, Tony Williams, and John McLaughlin/Mahavishnu Orchestra; that’s his shit right there, and I’ve probably heard the same four stories about the three aforementioned guys ten times each. All of these stories last between 15 – 20 minutes, and while initially interesting, it’s a long time to spend in a hallway en-route to the copy machine, especially when you know all the details already. I’ve always thought it was somewhat rude to point out to an elder (like dad or grandpa) that I’ve already heard a story multiple times. Even at my relatively young age, my memory is already very fleeting, and I often make the mistake of recounting tales I find interesting or humorous multiple times to the same person, occasionally in the period of a week. I am likely destined to become an old shit with four stories locked and loaded that I can and will recount at any moment. Whether or not they relate to previous conversation will be completely irrelevant, and additionally I’ll likely pepper them up with lies to make my relatively mundane existence, and the events/culture of my generation, seem breathtaking and electric (like how the 60s and 70s seems to those of us born in the 80s). Of course it will be quite obvious that my tales are faulty upon the third or fourth listening, when I’m no longer the awkward guy that took a piss next to Ice T in an alley behind the Roosevelt Hotel (a very significant moment in my life), but now I’m telling children that I played bass on a West Coast tour for Body Count. To ensure a boring and awkward time for everyone in my company, the diarrhea mouth will likely flow, and while everyone else tactfully searches for outs, I’ll probably be fantasizing mid-thought about how enthralled everyone is with my Shakespearian fabrications.

This post goes out the dudes with intense music knowledge about shit that most people could care less about, and the long (although sometimes tangent and arduous) stories that accompany that knowledge.
Stanley Clarke - Concherto For Jazz/Rock Orchestra (Short Version)
Neil Larson - Futurama
Larry Young -The Moontrane